The predominant historical language of
AlsaceAlsace is Alsatian , a
Germanic (mainly Alemannic ) dialect also spoken across the Rhine, but
today most Alsatians primarily speak French, the official language of
France. The political status of
AlsaceAlsace has been heavily influenced by
historical decisions, wars, and strategic politics. The economic and
cultural capital as well as largest city of
AlsaceAlsace is
StrasbourgStrasbourg . The
city is the seat of several international organizations and bodies .

The name "Alsace" can be traced to the
Old High GermanOld High German Ali-saz or
Elisaz, meaning "foreign domain". An alternative explanation is from
a Germanic Ell-sass, meaning "seated on the Ill ", a river in Alsace.

By 1500 BC, Celts began to settle in Alsace, clearing and cultivating
the land. It should be noted that
AlsaceAlsace is a plain surrounded by the
VosgesVosges mountains (west) and the
Black ForestBlack Forest mountains (east). It
creates Foehn winds which, along with natural irrigation, contributes
to the fertility of the soil. In a world of agriculture,
AlsaceAlsace has
always been a rich region which explains why it suffered so many
invasions and annexations in its history.

ROMAN ALSACE

By 58 BC, the Romans had invaded and established
AlsaceAlsace as a center
of viticulture . To protect this highly valued industry, the Romans
built fortifications and military camps that evolved into various
communities which have been inhabited continuously to the present day.
While part of the
Roman EmpireRoman Empire ,
AlsaceAlsace was part of Germania Superior
.

At about this time the surrounding areas experienced recurring
fragmentation and reincorporations among a number of feudal secular
and ecclesiastical lordships, a common process in the Holy Roman
Empire .
AlsaceAlsace experienced great prosperity during the 12th and 13th
centuries under Hohenstaufen emperors . Frederick I set up
AlsaceAlsace as a
province (a procuratio , not a provincia ) to be ruled by
ministeriales , a non-noble class of civil servants. The idea was that
such men would be more tractable and less likely to alienate the fief
from the crown out of their own greed. The province had a single
provincial court (
LandgerichtLandgericht ) and a central administration with its
seat at
Hagenau . Frederick II designated the Bishop of
StrasbourgStrasbourg to
administer Alsace, but the authority of the bishop was challenged by
Count
Rudolf of HabsburgRudolf of Habsburg , who received his rights from Frederick II's
son Conrad IV .
StrasbourgStrasbourg began to grow to become the most populous
and commercially important town in the region. In 1262, after a long
struggle with the ruling bishops, its citizens gained the status of
free imperial city . A stop on the Paris-
ViennaVienna -
OrientOrient trade route,
as well as a port on the
RhineRhine route linking southern
GermanyGermany and
SwitzerlandSwitzerland to the Netherlands, England and
ScandinaviaScandinavia , it became
the political and economic center of the region. Cities such as Colmar
and
Hagenau also began to grow in economic importance and gained a
kind of autonomy within the "Decapole" or "Dekapolis", a federation of
ten free towns.

As in much of Europe, the prosperity of
AlsaceAlsace came to an end in the
14th century by a series of harsh winters, bad harvests, and the Black
Death . These hardships were blamed on Jews, leading to the pogroms of
1336 and 1339. In 1349, Jews of
AlsaceAlsace were accused of poisoning the
wells with plague , leading to the massacre of thousands of Jews
during the
StrasbourgStrasbourg pogrom . Jews were subsequently forbidden to
settle in the town. An additional natural disaster was the
RhineRhine rift
earthquake of 1356, one of Europe's worst which made ruins of
BaselBasel .
Prosperity returned to
AlsaceAlsace under
HabsburgHabsburg administration during the
RenaissanceRenaissance . Petite
FranceFrance ,
StrasbourgStrasbourg

Holy
Roman EmpireRoman Empire central power had begun to decline following years
of imperial adventures in Italian lands, often ceding hegemony in
Western Europe to France, which had long since centralized power.
FranceFrance began an aggressive policy of expanding eastward, first to the
rivers
Rhône and
MeuseMeuse , and when those borders were reached, aiming
for the Rhine. In 1299, the French proposed a marriage alliance
between Philip IV of
FranceFrance 's sister Blanche and Albert I of Germany
's son Rudolf , with
AlsaceAlsace to be the dowry; however, the deal never
came off. In 1307, the town of
BelfortBelfort was first chartered by the
Counts of
Montbéliard . During the next century,
FranceFrance was to be
militarily shattered by the Hundred Years\' War , which prevented for
a time any further tendencies in this direction. After the conclusion
of the war,
FranceFrance was again free to pursue its desire to reach the
RhineRhine and in 1444 a French army appeared in
LorraineLorraine and Alsace. It
took up winter quarters, demanded the submission of
MetzMetz and
StrasbourgStrasbourg and launched an attack on
BaselBasel .

This situation prevailed until 1639, when most of
AlsaceAlsace was
conquered by
FranceFrance to keep it out of the hands of the Spanish
Habsburgs , who by secret treaty in 1617 had gained a clear road to
their valuable and rebellious possessions in the
Spanish Netherlands ,
the
Spanish RoadSpanish Road . Beset by enemies and seeking to gain a free hand in
Hungary , the Habsburgs sold their
Sundgau territory (mostly in Upper
Alsace) to
FranceFrance in 1646, which had occupied it, for the sum of 1.2
million Thalers . When hostilities were concluded in 1648 with the
Treaty of Westphalia , most of
AlsaceAlsace was recognized as part of
France, although some towns remained independent. The treaty
stipulations regarding
AlsaceAlsace were complex. Although the French king
gained sovereignty, existing rights and customs of the inhabitants
were largely preserved.
FranceFrance continued to maintain its customs
border along the
VosgesVosges mountains where it had been, leaving Alsace
more economically oriented to neighbouring German-speaking lands. The
German languageGerman language remained in use in local administration, in schools,
and at the (Lutheran) University of
StrasbourgStrasbourg , which continued to
draw students from other German-speaking lands. The 1685 Edict of
Fontainebleau , by which the French king ordered the suppression of
French
ProtestantismProtestantism , was not applied in Alsace.
FranceFrance did endeavour
to promote Catholicism.
StrasbourgStrasbourg Cathedral , for example, which had
been
LutheranLutheran from 1524 to 1681, was returned to the Catholic Church.
However, compared to the rest of France,
AlsaceAlsace enjoyed a climate of
religious tolerance.

The warfare that had partially depopulated the region created
opportunities for a stream of immigrants from Switzerland, Germany,
Austria, Lorraine,
SavoySavoy and other lands that continued until the
mid-18th century.
Louis XIVLouis XIV receiving the keys of
StrasbourgStrasbourg in
1681

The year 1789 brought the French Revolution and with it the first
division of
AlsaceAlsace into the départements of Haut- and
Bas-RhinBas-Rhin .
Alsatians played an active role in the French Revolution. On 21 July
1789, after receiving news of the
Storming of the BastilleStorming of the Bastille in Paris, a
crowd of people stormed the
StrasbourgStrasbourg city hall, forcing the city
administrators to flee and putting symbolically an end to the feudal
system in Alsace. In 1792, Rouget de Lisle composed in
StrasbourgStrasbourg the
Revolutionary marching song "
La MarseillaiseLa Marseillaise " (as Marching song for
the Army of the Rhine), which later became the anthem of France. "La
Marseillaise" was played for the first time in April of that year in
front of the mayor of
StrasbourgStrasbourgPhilippe-Frédéric de Dietrich .
Some of the most famous generals of the French Revolution also came
from Alsace, notably Kellermann , the victor of Valmy , Kléber , who
led the armies of the French Republic in Vendée and Westermann , who
also fought in the Vendée.

At the same time, some Alsatians were in opposition to the Jacobins
and sympathetic to the invading forces of
AustriaAustria and Prussia who
sought to crush the nascent revolutionary republic . Many of the
residents of the
Sundgau made "pilgrimages" to places like Mariastein
Abbey , near
BaselBasel , in Switzerland, for baptisms and weddings. When
the
French Revolutionary Army of the
RhineRhine was victorious, tens of
thousands fled east before it. When they were later permitted to
return (in some cases not until 1799), it was often to find that their
lands and homes had been confiscated. These conditions led to
emigration by hundreds of families to newly vacant lands in the
Russian EmpireRussian Empire in 1803–4 and again in 1808. A poignant retelling of
this event based on what Goethe had personally witnessed can be found
in his long poem
Hermann and Dorothea .

In response to the "hundred day" restoration of
NapoleonNapoleon I of France
in 1815,
AlsaceAlsace along with other frontier provinces of
FranceFrance was
occupied by foreign forces from 1815 to 1818, including over 280,000
soldiers and 90,000 horses in
Bas-RhinBas-Rhin alone. This had grave effects
on trade and the economy of the region since former overland trade
routes were switched to newly opened Mediterranean and Atlantic
seaports.

The population grew rapidly, from 800,000 in 1814 to 914,000 in 1830
and 1,067,000 in 1846. The combination of economic and demographic
factors led to hunger, housing shortages and a lack of work for young
people. Thus, it is not surprising that people left Alsace, not only
for Paris – where the Alsatian community grew in numbers, with
famous members such as
Baron Haussmann – but also for more distant
places like
RussiaRussia and the
Austrian EmpireAustrian Empire , to take advantage of the
new opportunities offered there:
AustriaAustria had conquered lands in
Eastern Europe from the
Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire and offered generous terms to
colonists as a way of consolidating its hold on the new territories.
Many Alsatians also began to sail to the United States, settling in
many areas from 1820 to 1850. In 1843 and 1844, sailing ships
bringing immigrant families from
AlsaceAlsace arrived at the port of New
York. Some settled in Illinois, many to farm or to seek success in
commercial ventures: for example, the sailing ships Sully (in May
1843) and Iowa (in June 1844) brought families who set up homes in
northern Illinois and northern Indiana. Some Alsatian immigrants were
noted for their roles in 19th-century American economic development.
Others ventured to
CanadaCanada to settle in southwestern
OntarioOntario , notably
Waterloo CountyWaterloo County .

By 1790, the
JewishJewish population of
AlsaceAlsace was approximately 22,500,
about 3% of the provincial population. They were highly segregated and
subject to long-standing antisemitic regulations. They maintained
their own customs,
YiddishYiddish language, and historic traditions within
the tightly-knit ghettos; they adhered to Talmudic law enforced by
their rabbis. Jews were barred from most cities and instead lived in
villages. They concentrated in trade, services, and especially in
money lending. They financed about a third of the mortgages in Alsace.
Official tolerance grew during the French Revolution, with full
emancipation in 1791. However, local antisemitism also increased and
NapoleonNapoleon turned hostile in 1806, imposing a one-year moratorium on all
debts owed to Jews. In the 1830-1870 era most Jews moved to the
cities, where they integrated and acculturated, as antisemitism
sharply declined. By 1831, the state began paying salaries to official
rabbis, and in 1846 a special legal oath for Jews was discontinued.
Antisemitic local riots occasionally occurred, especially during the
Revolution of 1848. The merger of
AlsaceAlsace into
GermanyGermany in 1871-1918
lessened antisemitic violence.

The
Franco-Prussian WarFranco-Prussian War , which started in July 1870, saw France
defeated in May 1871 by the
Kingdom of PrussiaKingdom of Prussia and other German
states. The end of the war led to the unification of
GermanyGermany . Otto
von Bismarck annexed
AlsaceAlsace and northern
LorraineLorraine to the new German
Empire in 1871.
FranceFrance ceded more than 90% of
AlsaceAlsace and one-fourth of
Lorraine, as stipulated in the treaty of Frankfurt , de jure, that
wasn't an annexation any more. Unlike other members states of the
German federation, which had governments of their own, the new
Imperial territory of
Alsace-Lorraine was under the sole authority of
the
KaiserKaiser , administered directly by the imperial government in
Berlin. Between 100,000 and 130,000 Alsatians (of a total population
of about a million and a half) chose to remain French citizens and
leave Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen, many of them resettling in French
AlgeriaAlgeria as
Pieds-Noirs . Only in 1911 was
Alsace-Lorraine granted some
measure of autonomy, which was manifested also in a flag and an anthem
(
Elsässisches Fahnenlied ). In 1913, however, the
Saverne Affair
(French: Incident de Saverne) showed the limits of this new tolerance
of the Alsatian identity. An Alsatian woman in traditional
costume, photographed by
Adolphe BraunAdolphe Braun

During the First World War, to avoid ground fights between brothers,
many Alsatians served as sailors in the
Kaiserliche Marine and took
part in the Naval mutinies that led to the abdication of the
KaiserKaiser in
November 1918, which left
Alsace-Lorraine without a nominal head of
state. The sailors returned home and tried to found an independent
republic. While
Jacques PeirotesJacques Peirotes , at this time deputy at the Landrat
Elsass-Lothringen and just elected mayor of
StrasbourgStrasbourg , proclaimed
the forfeiture of the
German EmpireGerman Empire and the advent of the French
Republic, a self-proclaimed government of
Alsace-Lorraine declared its
independence as the "Republic of
Alsace-Lorraine ". French troops
entered
AlsaceAlsace less than two weeks later to quash the worker strikes
and remove the newly established Soviets and revolutionaries from
power. With the arrival of the French soldiers, many Alsatians and
local Prussian/German administrators and bureaucrats cheered the
re-establishment of order

Although U.S. President
Woodrow WilsonWoodrow Wilson had insisted that the région
was self-ruling by legal status, as its constitution had stated it was
bound to the sole authority of the
KaiserKaiser and not to the German state,
FranceFrance would allow no plebiscite, as granted by the League of Nations
to some eastern German territories at this time, because the French
regarded the Alsatians as Frenchmen liberated from German rule.
GermanyGermany ceded the region to
FranceFrance under the
Treaty of Versailles .

Policies forbidding the use of German and requiring French were
promptly introduced. In order not to antagonize the Alsatians, the
region was not subjected to some legal changes that had occurred in
the rest of
FranceFrance between 1871 and 1919, such as the 1905 French law
on the separation of Church and State . German stamps of
Hindenburg marked with "Elsaß" (1940)

Today the territory is in certain areas subject to some laws that are
significantly different from the rest of
FranceFrance – this is known as
the local law .

In more recent years, the
Alsatian language is again being promoted
by local, national and European authorities as an element of the
region's identity. Alsatian is taught in schools (but not mandatory)
as one of the regional languages of France. German is also taught as a
foreign language in local kindergartens and schools. However, the
Constitution of
FranceFrance still requires that French be the only official
language of the Republic.

1945–present
French control
France
French; French and Alsatian German (declining minority language)

GEOGRAPHY

CLIMATE

AlsaceAlsace has a semi-continental climate with cold and dry winters and
hot summers. There is little precipitation because the
VosgesVosges protect
it from the west. The city of
ColmarColmar has a sunny microclimate ; it is
the second driest city in France, with an annual precipitation of just
550 mm, making it ideal for vin d\'
AlsaceAlsace (Alsatian wine).

AlsaceAlsace has an area of 8,283 km2, making it the smallest région of
metropolitan
FranceFrance . It is almost four times longer than it is wide,
corresponding to a plain between the
RhineRhine in the east and the Vosges
mountains in the west.

AlsaceAlsace is one of the most conservative régions of France. It is one
of just two régions in metropolitan
FranceFrance where the conservative
right won the 2004 région elections and thus controls the Alsace
Regional Council . Conservative leader Nicolas Sarkozy got his best
score in
AlsaceAlsace (over 65%) in the second round of the French
presidential elections of 2007 . The president of the Regional Council
is
Philippe Richert , a member of the
Union for a Popular MovementUnion for a Popular Movement ,
elected in the 2010 regional election. The frequently changing status
of the région throughout history has left its mark on modern day
politics in terms of a particular interest in national identity
issues.
AlsaceAlsace is also one of the most pro-EU regions of France. It
was one of the few French regions that voted 'yes' to the European
Constitution in 2005.

SOCIETY

DEMOGRAPHICS

Alsace's population increased to 1,872,949 in 2014. It has regularly
increased over time, except in wartime, by both natural growth and
migration . This growth has even accelerated at the end of the 20th
century.
INSEE estimates that its population will grow 12.9% to 19.5%
between 1999 and 2030.

Immigration

Place of birth of residents of Alsace
(at the 1968, 1975, 1982, 1990, 1999, and 2011 censuses)
CENSUS
BORN IN ALSACE
BORN IN THE REST OF
Metropolitan
FranceFrance Born in
Overseas
FranceFrance Born in foreign
countries with French
citizenship at birth IMMIGRANTS

2011
71.3%
15.6%
0.4%
2.2%
10.5%

FROM EUROPE
FROM THE MAGHREB
FROM TURKEY
FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD

4.6%
2.4%
1.6%
1.9%

1999
73.6%
15.4%
0.4%
2.1%
8.5%

FROM EUROPE
FROM THE MAGHREB
FROM TURKEY
FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD

4.2%
1.9%
1.3%
1.1%

1990
75.9%
13.4%
0.3%
2.4%
7.9%

1982
76.8%
12.5%
0.3%
2.6%
7.8%

1975
78.3%
11.6%
0.2%
2.6%
7.3%

1968
81.7%
9.8%
0.1%
2.8%
5.6%

^A Persons born abroad of French parents, such as
Pieds-Noirs and
children of French expatriates.
^B An immigrant is by French definition a person born in a foreign
country and who didn't have French citizenship at birth. Note that an
immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France,
but is still listed as an immigrant in French statistics. On the other
hand, persons born in
FranceFrance with foreign citizenship (the children of
immigrants) are not listed as immigrants.
^C
MoroccoMorocco ,
TunisiaTunisia ,
AlgeriaAlgeria

Most of the Alsatian population is
Roman CatholicRoman Catholic , but, largely
because of the region's German heritage, a significant Protestant
community also exists: today, the EPCAAL (a
LutheranLutheran church) is
France's second largest
ProtestantProtestant church, also forming an
administrative union (UEPAL ) with the much smaller
Calvinist EPRAL .
Unlike the rest of France, the
Local law in Alsace-Moselle still
provides for the Napoleonic
Concordat of 1801 and the organic articles
, which provides public subsidies to the Roman Catholic,
LutheranLutheran ,
and
Calvinist churches, as well as to
JewishJewish synagogues; religion
classes in one of these faiths is compulsory in public schools. This
divergence in policy from the French majority is due to the region
having been part of Imperial
GermanyGermany when the 1905 law separating the
French church and state was instituted (for a more comprehensive
history, see:
Alsace-Lorraine ). Controversy erupts periodically on
the appropriateness of this legal disposition, as well as on the
exclusion of other religions from this arrangement.

Following the
Protestant ReformationProtestant Reformation , promoted by local reformer
Martin BucerMartin Bucer , the principle of cuius regio, eius religio led to a
certain amount of religious diversity in the highlands of northern
Alsace. Landowners, who as "local lords" had the right to decide which
religion was allowed on their land, were eager to entice populations
from the more attractive lowlands to settle and develop their
property. Many accepted without discrimination Catholics, Lutherans,
Calvinists, Jews and Anabaptists . Multiconfessional villages
appeared, particularly in the region of
Alsace bossue .
AlsaceAlsace became
one of the French regions boasting a thriving
JewishJewish community, and
the only region with a noticeable
Anabaptist population. The schism of
the
AmishAmish under the lead of
Jacob AmmanJacob Amman from the Mennonites occurred
in 1693 in
Sainte-Marie-aux-MinesSainte-Marie-aux-Mines . The strongly Catholic Louis XIV
tried in vain to drive them from Alsace. When
NapoleonNapoleon imposed
military conscription without religious exception, most emigrated to
the American continent.

In 1707, the simultaneum forced many Reformed and
LutheranLutheran church
buildings to also allow Catholic services. About 50 such "simultaneous
churches" still exist in modern Alsace, though with the Catholic
church's general lack of priests they tend to hold Catholic services
only occasionally.

CULTURE

AlsaceAlsace historically was part of the Holy
Roman EmpireRoman Empire and the German
realm of culture. Since the 17th century, the region has passed
between German and French control numerous times, resulting in a
cultural blend. Germanic traits remain in the more traditional, rural
parts of the culture, such as the cuisine and architecture, whereas
modern institutions are totally dominated by French culture.

StrasbourgStrasbourg 's arms are the colors of the shield of the Bishop of
StrasbourgStrasbourg (a band of red on a white field, also considered an
inversion of the arms of the diocese) at the end of a revolt of the
burghers during the Middle Ages who took their independence from the
teachings of the Bishop. It retains its power over the surrounding
area.

Flags

Rot-un-Wiss, the historical flag The region's flag from
1949 to 2008

There is controversy around the recognition of the Alsatian flag. The
authentic historical flag is the Rot-un-Wiss ; Red and White are
commonly found on the coat of arms of Alsatian cities (Strasbourg,
Mulhouse, Sélestat...) and of many Swiss cites, especially in
Basel\'s region . The German region
HesseHesse uses a flag similar to the
Rot-un-Wiss. As it underlines the Germanic roots of the region, it was
replaced in 1949 by a new "Union jack-like" flag representing the
union of the two départements. It has, however, no real historical
relevance. It has been since replaced again by a slightly different
one, also representing the two départements. With the purpose of
"Francizing" the region, the Rot-un-Wiss has not been recognized by
Paris. Some overzealous statesmen have called it a Nazi invention -
while its origins date back to the 11th century and the Red and White
banner of Gérard de
LorraineLorraine (aka. d'Alsace). The Rot-un-Wiss flag
is still known as the real historical emblem of the region by most of
the population and the départements' parliaments and has been widely
used during protests against the creation of a new "super-region"
gathering
Champagne-ArdennesChampagne-Ardennes ,
LorraineLorraine and Alsace, namely on Colmar's
statue of liberty.

LANGUAGE

Spatial distribution of dialects in
AlsaceAlsace prior to the
expansion of standard French in the 20th century

Although German dialects were spoken in
AlsaceAlsace for most of its
history, the dominant language in
AlsaceAlsace today is French.

The traditional language of the région is Alsatian , an Alemannic
dialect of
Upper German spoken on both sides of the
RhineRhine and closely
related to
Swiss German . Some Frankish dialects of West Central
German are also spoken in "
AlsaceAlsace Bossue" and in the extreme north of
Alsace. Neither Alsatian nor the Frankish dialects have any form of
official status, as is customary for regional languages in France,
although both are now recognized as languages of
FranceFrance and can be
chosen as subjects in lycées .

Although
AlsaceAlsace has been part of
FranceFrance multiple times in the past,
the region had no direct connection with the French state for several
centuries. From the end of the
Roman EmpireRoman Empire (5th century) to the
French annexation (17th century),
AlsaceAlsace was politically part of the
Germanic world.

From the annexation of
AlsaceAlsace by
FranceFrance in the 17th century and the
language policy of the French Revolution up to 1870, knowledge of
French in
AlsaceAlsace increased considerably. With the education reforms of
the 19th century, the middle classes began to speak and write French
well. The French language never really managed, however, to win over
the masses, the vast majority of whom continued to speak their German
dialects and write in German (which we would now call "standard
German").

Between 1870 and 1918,
AlsaceAlsace was annexed by the
German EmpireGerman Empire in the
form of an imperial province or Reichsland, and the mandatory official
language, especially in schools, became High German. French lost
ground to such an extent that it has been estimated that only 2% of
the population spoke French fluently and only 8% had some knowledge of
it (Maugue, 1970).

After 1918, French was the only language used in schools, and
particularly primary schools. After much argument and discussion and
after many temporary measures, a memorandum was issued by
Vice-Chancellor Pfister in 1927 and governed education in primary
schools until 1939.

During a reannexation by
GermanyGermany (1940–1945), High German was
reinstated as the language of education. The population was forced to
speak German and 'French' family names were Germanized. Following the
Second World War, the 1927 regulation was not reinstated and the
teaching of German in primary schools was suspended by a provisional
rectorial decree, which was supposed to enable French to regain lost
ground. The teaching of German became a major issue, however, as early
as 1946. Following World War II, the French government pursued, in
line with its traditional language policy , a campaign to suppress the
use of German as part of a wider
Francization campaign.

In 1951, Article 10 of the Deixonne
LawLaw (Loi Deixonne) on the
teaching of local languages and dialects made provision for Breton ,
Basque , Catalan and old Provençal , but not for Corsican , Dutch
(
West Flemish ) or Alsatian in
AlsaceAlsace and Moselle . However, in a
Decree of 18 December 1952, supplemented by an Order of 19 December of
the same year, optional teaching of the
German languageGerman language was introduced
in elementary schools in Communes where the language of habitual use
was the Alsatian dialect.

In 1972, the Inspector General of German, Georges Holderith, obtained
authorization to reintroduce German into 33 intermediate classes on an
experimental basis. This teaching of German, referred to as the
Holderith Reform, was later extended to all pupils in the last two
years of elementary school. This reform is still largely the basis of
German teaching (but not Alsatian) in elementary schools today.

It was not until 9 June 1982, with the Circulaire sur la langue et la
culture régionales en
AlsaceAlsace (Memorandum on regional language and
culture in Alsace) issued by the Vice-Chancellor of the Académie
Pierre Deyon, that the teaching of German in primary schools in Alsace
really began to be given more official status. The Ministerial
Memorandum of 21 June 1982, known as the Circulaire Savary, introduced
financial support, over three years, for the teaching of regional
languages in schools and universities. This memorandum was, however,
implemented in a fairly lax manner.

Both Alsatian and
Standard German were for a time banned from public
life (including street and city names, official administration, and
educational system). Though the ban has long been lifted and street
signs today are often bilingual,
Alsace-Lorraine is today very French
in language and culture. Few young people speak Alsatian today,
although there do still exist one or two enclaves in the Sundgau
region where some older inhabitants cannot speak French, and where
Alsatian is still used as the mother tongue. A related Alemannic
German survives on the opposite bank of the Rhine, in
BadenBaden , and
especially in Switzerland. However, while French is the major language
of the region, the
Alsatian dialect of French is heavily influenced by
German and other languages such a
YiddishYiddish in phonology and vocabulary.

This situation has spurred a movement to preserve the Alsatian
language, which is perceived as endangered, a situation paralleled in
other régions of France, such as
BrittanyBrittany or
OccitaniaOccitania . Alsatian is
now taught in French high schools. Increasingly, French is the only
language used at home and at work, whereas a growing number of people
have a good knowledge of standard German as a foreign language learned
in school.

The constitution of the Fifth Republic states that French alone is
the official language of the Republic. However, Alsatian, along with
other regional languages, are recognized by the French government in
the official list of languages of France.

Although the French government signed the European Charter for
Regional or Minority Languages in 1992, it never ratified the treaty
and therefore no legal basis exists for any of the regional languages
in France. However, visitors to
AlsaceAlsace can see indications of renewed
political and cultural interest in the language – in Alsatian signs
appearing in car-windows and on hoardings, and in new official
bilingual street signs in
StrasbourgStrasbourg and Mulhouse.

A 1999
INSEE survey, included in the 1999 Census, the majority of the
population in
AlsaceAlsace speaks French as their first language, 39.0% (or
500,000 people) of the population speaks Alsatian , 16.2% (or 208,000
people) speaks German , 75,200 people speak English (or 5.9%) and
27,600 people speak Italian .

The survey counted 548,000 adult speakers of Alsatian in France,
making it the second most-spoken regional language in the country
(after
OccitanOccitan ). Like all regional languages in France, however, the
transmission of Alsatian is on the decline. While 39% of the adult
population of
AlsaceAlsace speaks Alsatian, only one in four children speaks
it, and only one in ten children uses it regularly.

The traditional habitat of the Alsatian lowland, like in other
regions of
GermanyGermany and Northern Europe, consists of houses constructed
with walls in timber framing and cob and roofing in flat tiles. This
type of construction is abundant in adjacent parts of
GermanyGermany and can
be seen in other areas of France, but their particular abundance in
AlsaceAlsace is owed to several reasons:

* The proximity to the
VosgesVosges where the wood can be found.
* During periods of war and bubonic plague, villages were often
burned down, so to prevent the collapse of the upper floors, ground
floors were built of stone and upper floors built in half-timberings
to prevent the spread of fire.
* During most of the part of its history, a great part of
AlsaceAlsace was
flooded by the
RhineRhine every year. Half-timbered houses were easy to
knock down and to move around during those times (a day was necessary
to move it and a day to rebuild it in another place).

However, half-timbering was found to increase the risk of fire, which
is why from the 19th century, it began to be rendered. In recent
times, villagers started to paint the rendering white in accordance
with Beaux-Arts movements. To discourage this, the region's
authorities gave financial grants to the inhabitants to paint the
rendering in various colours, in order to return to the original style
and many inhabitants accepted (more for financial reasons than by firm
belief).

CUISINE

Flammekueche

Alsatian cuisine , somewhat based on Germanic culinary traditions, is
marked by the use of pork in various forms. It is perhaps mostly known
for the region's wines and beers. Traditional dishes include
baeckeoffe , flammekueche , choucroute , and fleischnacka . Southern
Alsace, also called the
Sundgau , is characterized by carpe frite
(that also exists in
YiddishYiddish tradition).

Food

The festivities of the year's end involve the production of a great
variety of biscuits and small cakes called bredela as well as pain
d\'épices (gingerbread cakes) which are baked around Christmas time.

The gastronomic symbol of the région is undoubtedly the
ChoucrouteChoucroute ,
a local variety of
Sauerkraut . The word
Sauerkraut in Alsatian has
the form sûrkrût, same as in other southwestern German dialects, and
means "sour cabbage" as its
Standard German equivalent. This word was
included into the French language as choucroute. To make it, the
cabbage is finely shredded, layered with salt and juniper and left to
ferment in wooden barrels.
Sauerkraut can be served with poultry,
pork, sausage or even fish. Traditionally it is served with Strasbourg
sausage or frankfurters, bacon, smoked pork or smoked Morteau or
Montbéliard sausages, or a selection of other pork products. Served
alongside are often roasted or steamed potatoes or dumplings.

AlsaceAlsace is also well known for its foie gras made in the region since
the 17th century. Additionally,
AlsaceAlsace is known for its fruit juices
and mineral waters.

AlsaceAlsace is an important wine-producing région . Vins d'
AlsaceAlsace (Alsace
wines ) are mostly white.
AlsaceAlsace produces some of the world's most
noted dry rieslings and is the only région in
FranceFrance to produce
mostly varietal wines identified by the names of the grapes used (wine
from
BurgundyBurgundy is also mainly varietal, but not normally identified as
such), typically from grapes also used in Germany. The most notable
example is
GewürztraminerGewürztraminer .

This article contains a LIST OF MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION . Please
relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles.
(May 2017)

Alsatian stork

The stork is a main feature of
AlsaceAlsace and was the subject of many
legends told to children. The bird practically disappeared around
1970, but re-population efforts are continuing. They are mostly found
on roofs of houses, churches and other public buildings in Alsace.

The
Easter Bunny was first mentioned in Georg Franck von Franckenau
's De ovis paschalibus (About Easter Eggs) in 1682 referring to an
AlsaceAlsace tradition of an Easter Hare bringing Easter Eggs.

"Alsatia", the
LatinLatin form of Alsace's name, has long ago entered the
English language with the specialized meaning of "a lawless place" or
"a place under no jurisdiction" - since
AlsaceAlsace was conceived by
English people to be such. It was used into the 20th century as a term
for a ramshackle marketplace, "protected by ancient custom and the
independence of their patrons". As of 2007, the word is still in use
among the English and Australian judiciaries with the meaning of a
place where the law cannot reach: "In setting up the Serious Organised
Crime Agency , the state has set out to create an
AlsatiaAlsatia - a region
of executive action free of judicial oversight," Lord Justice Sedley
in UMBS v SOCA 2007.

According to the Institut National de la Statistique et des Études
Économiques (
INSEE ),
AlsaceAlsace had a gross domestic product of 44.3
billion euros in 2002. With a GDP per capita of €24,804, it was the
second-place région of France, losing only to Île-de-
FranceFrance . 68% of
its jobs are in the services ; 25% are in industry, making
AlsaceAlsace one
of France's most industrialised régions.

* viticulture (mostly along the Route des Vins d\'
AlsaceAlsace between
Marlenheim and Thann )
* hop harvesting and brewing (half of French beer is produced in
Alsace, especially in the vicinity of Strasbourg, notably in
Strasbourg-Cronenbourg ,
Schiltigheim and
Obernai )
* forestry development
* automobile industry (
MulhouseMulhouse and
Molsheim , home town of Bugatti
Automobiles)
* life sciences , as part of the trinational Bio
ValleyValley and
* tourism
* potassium chloride (until the late 20th century) and phosphate
mining

AlsaceAlsace has many international ties and 35% of firms are foreign
companies (notably German, Swiss, American, Japanese, and Scandinavian
).

TOURISM

Having been early and always densely populated,
AlsaceAlsace is famous for
its high number of picturesque villages, churches and castles and for
the various beauties of its three main towns, in spite of severe
destructions suffered throughout five centuries of wars between France
and Germany.

Spaghetti-junctions (built in the 1970s and 1980s) are prominent in
the comprehensive system of motorways in Alsace, especially in the
outlying areas of
StrasbourgStrasbourg and Mulhouse. These cause a major buildup
of traffic and are the main sources of pollution in the towns, notably
in
StrasbourgStrasbourg where the motorway traffic of the A35 was 170,000 per
day in 2002.

At present, plans are being considered for building a new dual
carriageway west of Strasbourg, which would reduce the buildup of
traffic in that area by picking up north and southbound vehicles and
getting rid of the buildup outside Strasbourg. The line plans to link
up the interchange of
Hœrdt to the north of Strasbourg, with
Innenheim in the southwest. The opening is envisaged at the end of
2011, with an average usage of 41,000 vehicles a day. Estimates of the
French Works Commissioner however, raised some doubts over the
interest of such a project, since it would pick up only about 10% of
the traffic of the A35 at Strasbourg. Paradoxically, this reversed the
situation of the 1950s. At that time, the French trunk road left of
the
RhineRhine not been built, so that traffic would cross into
GermanyGermany to
use the Karlsruhe-
BaselBasel Autobahn.

TER Alsace is the rail network serving Alsace. Its network is
articulated around the city of Strasbourg. It is one of the most
developed rail networks in France, financially sustained partly by the
French railroad
SNCFSNCF , and partly by the région Alsace.

* the
TGVTGV Est (Paris – Strasbourg) had its first phase brought
into service in June 2007, bringing down the Strasbourg-Paris trip
from 4 hours to 2 hours 20 minutes. Work on its second phase, which
will further bring down this time to 1hour 50 minutes, is due to be
completed in 2016.
* the
TGVTGV Rhin-
Rhône between
DijonDijon and
MulhouseMulhouse (opened in 2011)
* a tram-train system in
MulhouseMulhouse (2011)
* an interconnection with the German
InterCityExpress , as far as
Kehl (expected 2016)

However, the abandoned Maurice-Lemaire tunnel towards
Saint-Dié-des-
VosgesVosges was rebuilt as a toll road.

StrasbourgStrasbourg is also two hours away by road from one of the largest
European airports, Frankfurt Main, and 2 hour 30 minutes from Charles
de Gaulle Airport through the direct
TGVTGV service, stopping in Terminal
2.

AlsaceAlsace is the most well equipped region of France, with 2000
kilometres of cycle routes. The network is of a very good standard and
well signposted. All the towpaths of the canals in
AlsaceAlsace (canal des
houillères de la Sarre , canal de la Marne au Rhin , canal de la
Bruche , canal du
Rhône au Rhin ) are tarred.